We Claim:
1. An isolated mutant flavivirus E-glycoprotein polypeptide that exhibits measurably reduced antibody cross-reactivity as compared to the corresponding wild-type flavivirus E-glycoprotein, said mutant polypeptide comprising at least one amino acid substitution at position 104, 106, or 107 as compared to said corresponding wild-type flavivirus E-glycoprotein polypeptide.
2. The isolated mutant flavivirus E-glycoprotein polypeptide as claimed in claim 1, wherein the amino acid substitution is selected from the group consisting of G104H, G104N, G106Q, G106V, L107K, L107Y, and a combination of two or more thereof.
3. The isolated mutant flavivirus E-glycoprotein polypeptide as claimed in claim 1, comprising an amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 14, having at least one amino acid substitution at position 104, 106, or 107 compared to a wild-type flavivirus E-glycoprotein polypeptide.
4. The isolated mutant flavivirus E-glycoprotein polypeptide as claimed in claim 2, wherein the amino acid substitution is selected from the group consisting of:
G104H; G106Q; L107K; and a combination of two or more thereof.
5. An isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide as claimed in claim 1.
6. A recombinant nucleic acid molecule, comprising a regulatory sequence operably linked to the nucleic acid molecule as claimed in claim 5.
7. A virus-like particle, comprising the polypeptide as claimed in claim 1.